By Abby Ohlheiser
Photos by Merel van Beeren"Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, and the Hartmanns perish??" --Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
I was sitting in a French-style chain cafe (sorry America), finishing my croissant, talking to Merel, when we heard the opening notes of "The Star Spangled Banner." It was a restrained, beautiful choral...

by Joshua M. Z. Stanton
When John F. Kennedy was running for president in 1960, fear-mongers raised the specter of his dual loyalty. Would he really serve American interests or merely be a pawn for the Vatican? After all, he was a Catholic. Church doctrine, it was whispered, could co-opt the person designated to uphold America’s...